Type 1 Diabetic Warrior

OUR CAT My family has THE BEST CAT IN THE WORLD. Sure, I know everyone says that. But seriously. My cat is amazing. Her name is Gabby. She is a beautiful -- black and white and very fluffy and she talks (meows) all the time! Gabby is actually my boyfriend's stepmother's cat. She has a brother named Rascal who she couldn't live with in peace and harmony because Rascal is a little too rambunctious for Gabby. So Callie asked Mike if Gabby could come live with us. It turned out perfectly for all involved! Gabby is very sweet and kind and affectionate. She loves being petted and snuggling in bed. She is also hilarious. In addition to being extremely vocal, she also does other funny things. Sometimes she runs around the house for absolutely no reason meowing loudly. She will do this anytime, even late at night or early in the morning. She likes to lie inside boxes and laundry baskets and closets and on top of things. She loves plastic bags -- getting inside them, lying on top of ...

Along with my blood sugars being uncontrolled, which was bad enough, there were some other issues as well. Working in a sporting goods store, I had access to all of the latest styles of athletic footwear. Unfortunately, the fashionable sneakers I had been wearing led to what I thought was a "blister". Well, that "blister" turned into an infected diabetic ulcer. Suddenly I was being set up with a wound vac and crutches. I also had an MRI. This thing was pretty bad. At that point, there was no major infection, but I was on an antibiotic just in case. My fifth full day in the hospital, after being transferred from ICU to a regular medical/surgical unit the night before, I woke up and realized while watching TV that suddenly everything seemed cloudy. What the heck? Now my vision was shot, too? I couldn't read a newspaper. I had trouble seeing the TV. It was like there was a hazy film over my eyes. I had no idea what was happening. I asked my dad if he could bring me...

The first few days of that hospital stay are kind of a blur. My mom had completely lost her mobility by then. She had a motorized scooter at home and had to be pushed in a wheelchair to go to appointments. My dad, who used a cane at that point, was able to push her wheelchair and brought her to see me only one time, when I was still in the ICU. Otherwise, my dad came to the hospital almost every day. I will never really know what kind of grief my parents experienced seeing their almost 36-year-old daughter in ICU. Not cool. My best friend, Beth, visited me. She has said she didn't like the numbers on my monitors in ICU. They scared her. Otherwise, my boyfriend at the time, Jason, and my dad's good friends Bill and Nancy, also visited. My care team in the ICU was amazing. The ones who especially stand out in my mind include nurse Amanda, nurse Laura (who Amanda was training), and tech (nurse's assistant) Krisann (my former middle school basketball teammate). By Wednesday I w...

Sunday, January 20th, 2008 was the day my life would change forever. You will have to excuse me, because as I am sure you can understand, quite a bit of it is a blur. I hadn't been feeling well for a few days the week leading up to that weekend. However, by Saturday I felt well enough to attend basketball games at my alma mater, Moravian College, and an alumni reception afterward Anyway, Sunday I woke up feeling quite ill. But I dragged my butt into work at Schuylkill Valley Sports in Allentown. Honestly, I will never really know how I made it through that shift. I had two high school students working with me -- Erika and Dave. They basically ran the store that day. I will always remember them and forever be grateful to them for that. After work, my dad picked me up. Dave and Erika rode with us across the mall parking lot to the bank to drop the deposit in the overnight box. Then Dad drove me home. We left my car at the mall. I think my dad and his friend picked it up later that we...

Thank you for reading my blog! I hope to inspire and encourage people who are facing challenges, not just diabetes. It is also a way for me to process the emotions of dealing with Type 1 diabetes 365 days a year. It is not easy, but I do what I have to and I realize that I am a very lucky person.  I was living in Chestertown, Maryland when I was originally diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic in the summer of 1999. Yes, my original diagnosis was NOT Type 1. I was a sports information director at a small college, living in one room in someone's house with just a microwave and a small refrigerator. I thought at the time that diabetes was all about sugar and that I could eat all the "sugar free" stuff that I wanted to. I tested my blood sugar, took my pills, and for a while I thought I was doing OK.  I moved to Ashland, Virginia in the summer of 2000, to work at another small college. This school had a football team, so the job would be much more demanding and the hours longer. Fo...